Can I confess something to you? I’ve never been very good at fasting. Throughout the Bible, there have been numerous references to prayer and fasting. The concept is simple enough. By choosing not to eat for a set period of time, it can help to strengthen and reinforce our prayer times. Spiritually speaking, when we combine intentional focused prayer time with fasting, a number of things can happen.
The hunger pangs that accompany fasting can be a physical reminder to us to pray throughout the day.
The sacrifice of going without food can help us remember and connect to Christ’s sacrifice.
The time that is saved in not preparing food, and sitting to eat, can free up additional time for prayer.
The money we save on the meals we don’t eat can be used to help others.
These are just a few of the reason I believe the Bible encourages us to fast and pray. I’m not sure I can fully explain it, but our prayer life seems to be intensified when accompanied by fasting.
Often in the Bible, God would call his people to a season of prayer and fasting for a specific purpose, or in response to a difficult situation or circumstance. Recently, a leader in our church shared with me that they felt called to a time of prayer and fasting for a particular person who was going through an unimaginably difficult season in their life. As he shared his heart with me for this hurting friend, I began to think about a large number of people in our church family who are struggling in one way or another.
In that moment I began to sense that God was calling us as a church to a time of prayer and fasting. The focus of this special time of prayer and fasting will likely be unique to each one of us. There may be a person that God has placed on your heart for physical, spiritual or emotional healing. There maybe someone who is far from Jesus that you want to pray opens their heart to him. On a grander scale, you may want to pray for our very broken world, and for our church, that we might be a source of God’s healing and reconciliation.
So here is what I am going to do. For the month of November, I am going to set aside one day a week to fast and pray. Of course, I will be praying every day. But one day a week I am going to add that additional focus that fasting can bring. The money I save from fasting I am going to have go towards Care Ministry to support our Thanksgiving outreach. I have a list of folks, from within my own family and our larger church family, that I intend to pray for with greater intensity that I ever have. And I will be praying for the mission of our church. In recent months I have seen God move in extraordinary ways. But I have a sense that as we move towards 2020, God has fruitfulness and blessing in store for our church beyond anything we have ever seen.
BTW, fasting does not have to be going without food. Some people will fast from television for a day and use the time freed up for additional prayer. Others may fast from social media for a similar reason. Some people will fast breakfast and lunch and then have dinner with their family. What’s important is that the fast represents for us a form of sacrifice that helps to focus and intensify our prayer life. In whatever form you chose, I invite you to join me in fasting at least once a week throughout this month of November.
God bless,
Pastor Steve
Reminder: Don’t forget that this Sunday we will honor our veterans in worship. If you have a friend, family member or neighbor who has served in this way, please invite then to join us. Also, coming up on Thanksgiving day will be our free community thanksgiving dinner. You can sign up to attend, or to volunteer, at this link.